Expanded Universe
by AwesmeChic
Summary: Obi-Wan and his new female partner engage on a mission to find the legendary bounty hunter Ona Nobis. Love is still new to the couple, and so distracts them from their ultimate goal to prove the Jedi Council wrong about the marriage in the first place.


Chapter 1  
  
Kato Drant followed a Twil'ek woman into a stately adorned room on the second to highest floor of a rented Senate building. The planet Corellia was lush this season. The leaves were in full bloom and the streams were overflowing. Baby animals were seen everywhere, even in the backyard, with their parents.  
The Twil'ek briefly spoke to a human who smiled brightly at Kato as she took in her figure and height. A Tasonian wardrobe of soft purple that flowed into blue was wrapped around Kato and a matching veil was laid over her head. All this was done in minutes.  
"You look wonderful." The human woman said approvingly as the Twil'ek nodded.  
"Thank you." Kato said blushing as they left and she was alone. She walked to a floor to ceiling mirror and looked herself over. It was not like her to wear a dress or anything else fancy. Her make up felt like slime on her face, but it heightened her softly beautiful features.  
She had to wait another hour in her room before the guests finished arriving. Not that there were a lot of guests, only Kato's surviving family members and friends from the Temple.  
Kato searched her mind once again for any reason she should stop what she was doing now and not have to go through it. But once again, she found none. Only her mind would not accept what she was about to do.  
Years of her life had been spent as a mercenary, as a trainer of bounty hunters, and then as a padawan of the dark side. She felt unworthy of the honor about to be placed on her and her heart. Recently, she had betrayed her friends and almost killed them.  
There was a knock at the door and Kato opened it. Qui-Gon Jinn stood in the frame, a smile creased across his face. He wore a suit of his own distant home world, of black. "Are you ready?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.  
Kato smiled back, unsteadily. "Yes sir. And thank you again."  
"It is my pleasure." He said as she looped her arm through his and he led her down the hall to a set of brown doors.  
In a few seconds, music filled the building. It was Qui-Gon and Kato's cue to enter. The doors swung open and Kato let the Jedi Master lead her down the isle, past full seats of gleaming people and cameras.  
Just before she came to the stairs, Qui-Gon let go of her arm and placed a soft kiss in her hair before sitting down himself. Kato walked the rest of the way up the stairs onto a platform where a leader waited.  
Obi-Wan smiled at her from his own stand on the platform. He had chosen to wear a formal Jedi tunic on this occasion. His hair was nicely combed and gelled.  
The two barely heard the consolidator recite his attaching spell. They stared deep into one another eyes and smiled. Then suddenly it was time to make it final. They were asked to kiss.  
Obi-Wan took Kato's hand in his and leaned down. His lips on hers were warm and they made her own tingle, her legs tremble. The kiss lasted a few seconds before they parted and Obi-Wan led her down the stairs and out the door into the hallway. The two Jedi jogged back to their rooms and changed into normal tunics before meeting again at the entrance to the building.  
They smiled joyfully and ran outside where two Suubatars, the herd animals and mode of transportation imported from the planet Ansion waited. Their six legs, narrow bodies, and wedge shaped heads were built strictly for speed.  
The two newly weds hopped on the back of a single animal and they galloped through the forest to a small lake. A ship was parked there, hovering just over the water, its loading ramp extended to dry land.  
Kato laughed as she climbed off the giant animal and Obi-Wan slapped it away. "You brought the Starlighter?"  
Obi-Wan smiled even more as they climbed inside and headed for space. "I knew you would be surprised."  
"Where are we going?" she asked as they left the planet's atmosphere.  
"Where do you want to go?" Obi-Wan asked, taking her hand in his and gently caressing it with his thumb.  
Kato thought for a moment. "I wanna be in danger again, its been too long."  
"Just what I thought. There is a man my Master knows named Didi Osto, a transferor of information. He managed to get himself in some trouble and now there is a bounty hunter on him named Ona Nobis." Obi-Wan paused. "Are you up to the task of stopping her?"  
Kato nodded exuberantly.  
Obi-Wan tossed her a metallic metal cylinder, her lightsaber. "Nabbed this for you."  
Kato smiled and attached it to her belt. "Is the Walker on board?"  
"Of course."  
"And GAT?"  
"Is in the cargo hold rebooting his system." Obi-Wan smiled. "Just like old times."  
"Almost."  
"What's missing?"  
"Our masters. But it feels great."  
"Oh yeah." He entered coordinates into the ships computer. "We're headed to the planet Phu where the bounty hunter is reportedly staying. It seems like a good place to start."  
"I agree, how long will it take to get there?"  
Obi-Wan drew in a long breath as he read the computers estimate. "Two days from Corellia."  
Kato leaned down to where he was in the pilot seat and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "I'm going to check on him."  
"Okay."  
Kato accessed the controls for the door and it opened in a whoosh of fresh air from the circulators. It closed the same way behind her. Kato walked down the short hallway and rode a small elevator to the bottom level of the ship to the cargo hold.  
GAT-92 rested in a corner underneath a mess of fueling wires and extra circuits. Its long visor lit up green as it picked her up on its sensors. GAT immediately scanned her body heat, configuration, and telltale signs of her body; and it recognized her as Kato Drant.  
GAT was a Industech Assassination Droid, a prototype that Kato had managed to get her hands on before all the bugs could be worked out, that she had fixed herself. Since she had stolen it before all the problems were figured out, it had not gone into production and GAT was the only Droid of its specified kind.  
Its legs were long and triple jointed for optimum speed and terrain compatibility. The legs moved up to a swivel waist and a long metal tail for balance. GAT was equipped with long arms and three clawed fingers with dual laser blasters on each wrist. The torso was elongated in front and in back, more in back, like a shield. The front plating only came to the droids neck, the back one came straight up farther than its head. GAT's head was perhaps the scariest part of its sleek body. It was almost a cylinder, rounded in front with a long visor across the space where eyes would be if he were human. Hidden in the droids less conceivable places were more dangerous weapons such as thermal detonators, pulse guns, a sniper rifle, and other explosive devices. He was the best partner Kato had ever had and the longest lasting. That was, before Obi-Wan. GAT listened to her every word and Kato had thought he was turning out to be a personality. He would only listen to her, never had he betrayed her instruction. Kato walked closer to the droid and reached behind his back plating to switch on his motion motors. GAT took a step forward, his metal feet slapping the steel of the ship with an audible clang. He was more in the light now and his gleaming silver body with blue lining illuminated the shadows of the corner they occupied. Kato ordered the robot to follow her and she led it back up the turbo lift and onto the bridge. Obi-Wan swung his seat around and observed the droid quietly. He did not entirely like to put his trust into machines, but he was learning, slowly. "I cleaned him up for you." He said, fingering GAT's armor. "I noticed." Kato said. "Thank you." She turned to the assassination droid. "Go into temporary shut down until needed." GAT powered down his systems with the exception of his radar and became a silent, deadly shadow beside the bulkhead. Obi-Wan took his new wife's hand in his and led her to the bedroom. Kato still hesitated before entering. It was now legal and right to stay in the same room and the same bed, but it still felt. different. Kato shook her head and stepped in. It would be something to get used to, and later to enjoy. Obi-Wan gathered her in his arms as soon as she was in and the door closed, embracing her in a possessive hug. Kato leaned her head into his shoulder and thought about how awkward this used to be to her. Obi-Wan's arms tightened around her skinny frame and she felt her chest rise and fall in tandem to his. She really felt as if they were one. They stood like that for a few more seconds before releasing. Still, Obi-Wan kept her hands in his and stared into her emerald, almond shaped eyes. "I love you." He said quietly. She smiled. "And I you." They were young, so young, Kato thought. Obi-Wan was only a few months older than twenty standard years and Kato was only a bit after nineteen. But after Kato had decided to stop living in the Temple because of her own inner guilt about a past mission, Obi-Wan had gone absolutely crazy without her. So was the rash decision of marriage that came up, and in a few weeks, here they were. Even though he had blessed them at the ceremony, Master Yoda very much did not approve of the marriage. He said that Obi-Wan still had a life to live and learn at the Temple in the ways of the Force and that he was throwing it in for a girl he had just met. Kato's first impression on her first mission had upset the coupling even more. Almost all the masters of the Council could not accept the fact that she had killed Jedi in the past and had almost done so again. They only tolerated her even being around the Temple because of Obi-Wan, and even all that tolerating was for nothing since he was leaving to be with her and live on Corellia where they would take up justice work together. Obi-Wan's own master, Qui-Gon Jinn, thought of it only as a passing stage for his padawan, and that he would soon realize that he was making a mistake marrying so young. Obi-Wan sat Kato on the edge of the bed and took off his outer tunic, revealing a tight white undershirt. She watched him and began to take off her own dress, in exchange for her sleep wear. It was odd, changing in front of him, though and she repeatedly looked over her shoulder as she dressed self consciously in the corner facing the wall. Obi-Wan surprised her when she wasn't looking and unbuttoning her corset by wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her closer to him. "We're married now, remember?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. Kato blushed and finished unbuttoning, then slipped into a thin nightgown of soft beige material. Obi-Wan let her go and pulled back the covers of the bed, then tucked her in, before climbing in on the opposite side. Automatically, the bed shifted to accommodate their different weights recorded their cold body temperatures before heating the mattress. Obi-Wan scooted to the middle of the bed and pulled her to him until they were chest to back. His arms wrapped her middle and her head fell against his chest, just under the chin. Her hands held his wrists and her legs matched the shape of his. Galaxies, Kato thought. It feels so good. It just feels. safe. With that she closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. Obi-Wan could tell when she was asleep by the slow rising and falling of her stomach against his hands. He lifted one hand and stroked his fingers through her hair and across her cheek. So soft. He breathed in deep the smell of her and wondered why anyone could despise her so. He loved her, he truly did, and it was a love he had never felt before. He could tell she was still kind of awkward around him, but that was half the fun. She shivered, just the slightest, and he took that as an excuse to draw her even closer. He felt like he could never get enough of her, like if he ever lost her, he would surely die from grief. Kato was so beautiful. His master didn't understand, none of them did, what it was like to be in true love. Sure Qui-Gon had had Tahl, but she was gone now. Maybe that was one of the reasons he didn't truly approve of their marriage. Obi-Wan looked across the room at the window and saw a sea of endless stars and in the far distance, a planet. How hard could it be to live alone? He thought. The masters had sure made a big deal about it, but he had taken it at the time as just reasons for him not to get married. With Kato, he felt that anything was possible. The girl shifted away from him a few inches and Obi-Wan lessened his grip, thinking maybe that he might have been squeezing too hard. But all she did was flip over so that she was facing him and then come back in, closer than even before, seeking physical warmth and safety. He could feel her through his thin shirt, the radiation of love and serenity in his life. He would never let her go, he promised himself. Never.  
  
A sound outside the ship of grating metal woke Kato up. She pulled away from Obi-Wan immediately, causing him to stir and slowly begin to wake up. She felt suddenly more self conscious than ever before. Kato stood up and quickly changed into a fresh set of clothes. By the time she was done, Obi-Wan was just climbing into his own clothing. The grating of metal sounded again, even more loudly than before. What is that? They were both thinking. Obi-Wan hurried out the door and down the hallway, Kato right behind him. Suddenly, the ship shook, tilted wildly to the left, sending the two sprawling into the side of the bulkhead. The ship automatically righted itself and switched to defense mode. Obi-Wan helped Kato to her feet and then ran to the cockpit, leaving her behind to reorientate herself. When he got there he immediately headed to the control stick, grasping it in his hands as yet another immense crash rocked their small ship. Obi-Wan fought to keep the stick steady, but even with the Force to aid him, the ship began to tilt wildly. Raawwrrr! GAT pushed his way beside the padawan and clenched the stick above Obi- Wan's hands, adding his own metallic power. Together, they were able to stabilize the ship. Jumping back, Obi-Wan flicked an overhead switch that 


End file.
